CAT scan for diversity: Why GEMs no longer shine at MBA campuses

Diversity surges as women and non-engineers benefit from lower weightage of CAT scores

In the normal course, Viidhii Dwivedi of Kolkata, who completed her bachelor’s in dental surgery from Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia University in 2021, would have gone on to obtain a master’s in her field. Instead, she is toiling away at a coaching institute preparing for the Common Admission Test (CAT), the gateway to the 20 Indian Institutes of Management and 77 other top business schools.

Dwivedi changed tracks when she heard from friends that the CAT score was no longer the overwhelming criterion for getting into a top B-school.  This struck a chord for Dwivedi; she does not much fancy